Last week, European Commission Vice-President Neelie Kroes promised that charges for using your mobile phone while abroad (roaming) would become significantly cheaper. That promise has now been fulfilled, with substantial price cuts across member states taking effect today.
This is welcome news for anyone who has faced steep bills while traveling for work, on holiday, or calling friends and family living in another country.
Though roaming prices are still far from the low rates many of us enjoy today, the reductions announced are meaningful: outgoing call charges have fallen by at least 17 percent, and charges for receiving calls have been reduced by 12 percent as of today.
Text messaging and data users also benefit. SMS rates have been cut by 11 percent, while data rates have seen the largest reduction—a 36 percent decrease.
To put this in context: data is now capped at 45 euro cents per megabyte, a dramatic drop compared with 2007—about 91 percent lower. If this cap had been in place back then, many users would have saved a substantial amount on their bills.
Neelie Kroes and the Commission are not stopping with these cuts.
Further reductions are expected by this time next year. While the additional cuts for voice calls and SMS will be more modest, data prices are projected to fall by more than half again, potentially reaching around 20 euro cents per megabyte.
On Twitter, Kroes acknowledged that some consumers still find roaming rates too high: “Those of you who feel roaming rates still too high: I agree. Full change only possible with more competition and fewer borders. #singlemarket.”
Creating a single telecoms market across the EU is a central part of Kroes’s agenda. She argues that a less fragmented regulatory framework would encourage investment and innovation in the sector, ultimately benefiting consumers and businesses alike.
This initiative goes hand in hand with her push for the complete abolishment of mobile roaming fees, a goal she has publicly advocated for implementation in 2014.
What do you think about the EU roaming cuts and Neelie Kroes’s efforts to create a single telecoms market?